Who's Who?

Returning to his native South Wales in 2004, Paul has lead responsibility within the WAO for Joint Reviews of Social Services. He also leads on major national and local performance audits, is responsible for the WAO’s programme of housing inspections and audits, and has WAO Partner responsibility for a number of corporate projects.

Pat Vogt - Deputy Chief Inspector, Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales
Pat Vogt has lead responsibility for CSSIW's joint review functions and manages the CSSIW adult development unit. She is a qualified social worker, registered with the Care Council. Prior to the creation of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales in April 2007, Pat joined SSIW in 1997 after working in Oxfordshire Social Services Department for several years in a range of posts in both adult and children’s services. Her final post there was as Health Services Manager where she managed a large health based division of  80 social workers and the provision of services to enable efficient discharge. She also led on strategic issues at the interface between social services and the NHS.

Prior to becoming Deputy Chief Inspector in February 2005 Pat had SSIW lead for adult protection and the development of In Safe Hands as well as for development work in learning disability, mental health, and in services for carers.

Programme managers

Val Connors - Performance Specialist
Val joined the Audit Commission in Wales in January 2004, as a Performance Specialist with the Health, Housing and Social Care Team. Her background includes a period of post graduate research in the field of Social Science at Cardiff University , after which she spent some time in the Voluntary Sector working in the area of substance misuse. Between 1991 - 1998, she held a variety of managerial and strategic posts in Mid Glamorgan Social Services Department and, following Local Government Reorganisation in Wales , in Bridgend SSD. She joined the Social Services Inspectorate Wales (SSIW) at the National Assembly for Wales in 1998 where she spent the next four years developing and leading inspections across a range of service areas, and also undertook a period of secondment with the Joint Review Team carrying out reviews in Wales and England.

She has extensive experience of Local Government and social care services covering various aspects of community care and children's services as well as social care planning and the development of management information systems.

Phil Evans
Phil began his social work career in 1973 and became a senior practitioner, specialising in direct work with children.  His first management post, in 1981, was as the project leader in a multi-agency adolescent resource centre.  He then became a district manager and principal officer in Mid Glamorgan County Council.  Between 1996 and 2001, when he joined the Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (SSIW), Phil worked in Rhondda Cynon Taf and managed services provided to children and families.  During this period, he obtained an MSc (with distinction) in public management.  Prior to the creation of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales in April 2007, Phil has managed and led a wide range of inspections and reviews.  He is currently working as joint review programme manager.

Reviewers

Kevin Barker -  Reviewer
Kevin studied at Sussex and Hull universities before joining the social services department of the then Avon County Council in Bristol. During this time he worked in residential children’s services and later as a specialist social worker for children and adults with a learning disability. A move to West Glamorgan County Council in 1989 brought him to Wales, where over the next decade he worked as a community development officer, senior practitioner and, more recently, as a Principal Officer for South Glamorgan and Cardiff County Councils. This last position involved responsibility for all directly provided services for people with learning disabilities in one half of Cardiff from 1996 to 2000. Between 1995 and 1997 Kevin studied part time at Bristol University to obtain an MSc in Management Development with Social Responsibility. Immediately before joining SSIW in April 2002 he was Head of Service for a large voluntary organisation in the South West of England working with people with learning disabilities and mental health needs.

Prior to the creation of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales in April 2007, Kevin has taken the roles of co-inspector, lead inspector and managing inspector for inspections of local authority social services in Wales and for best value inspections.

Carol Caporn - Reviewer
Carol has a post graduate qualification as a medical social worker from Edinburgh University and an MA from Brunel University . She worked for over thirty years in social care -in hospitals, GP practice, child guidance, and the voluntary sector. She has senior management experience as Head of Services for Older People and as statutory Director of Social Services.

Carol was the first Social Services Adviser in the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).

Currently Carol is a Trustee of The Stroke Association, a Vice -Chair of Action on Elder Abuse, a Housing Association Board Member and a lay member of the Care Standards Tribunal.

Rob Gifford  - Reviewer
Rob Gifford has worked in a variety of social care settings since 1986, having spent most of his time since then employed in the North-West of England. Initially engaged with children and young people in a residential capacity, he then began working primarily with older people, as a Social Worker, Team Manager and Service Manager. He also spent some time as ICT Development Manager for a large county council and had responsibility for policy development within a newly-established unitary authority.

In 2002, Rob became a member of the senior management team for social services in Wrexham.  As Head of Finance & Performance, he had a portfolio which included contracts, customer services, finance, IROs (Independent Reviewing Officers for Child & Family Services) and performance management.

Rob is a qualified and registered social worker, has an NVQ Level 5 in Management, is an NVQ Assessor, is PRINCE2 qualified and holds the European Computer Driving License.

Prior to the creation of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales in April 2007, Rob joined SSIW in June 2006.

Ian Hughes - Audit Manager/Reviewer
Ian is an Audit Manager within the Technical Team, Wales Audit Office. His areas of expertise include governance and fraud. In addition he is the Complaints Investigating Officer for the Wales Audit Office and also deals with disclosures made by employees of audited bodies under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. More recently he has been contributing to the Joint Review of Social Services in Wales.

His academic background is life sciences, having graduated from the University of Nottingham in 1997 with a degree in Zoology. He subsequently qualified as a member of CIPFA in 1991 at the John Moores University, Liverpool . A fluent Welsh speaker, he has spent most of his time with the Audit Commission as an auditor based in North Wales where he became involved in a number of high profile special investigations, notably the Medical Locum Fraud and the conduct and governance reviews at the Isle of Anglesey County Council. He has successfully completed a number of secondments including in 1995 to the Metropolitan Police Force and in 2001-2003 to the Audit Policy and Appointments Directorate in Vincent Square. Most recently he was the Deputy Lead of a Team within the new Healthcare Commission which successfully established a directorate in Manchester responsible for investigating complaints against the NHS in England.

Stephen Martin - Reviewer
Stephen worked as Director of Social and Community Work for a voluntary organisation then for a large local authority where posts included community care contracts manager and joint commissioning manager for children. Work for the Audit Commission has included studies on performance management and partnership working and integration of services. He has led reviews of agency placements for children and mental health services for older people. He helped develop the Audit Commission toolkit on the Educational Achievement of Looked After Children. He is now based at the Cardiff office of the Wales Audit Office.

Hester Ormiston Reviewer
Hester has experience as an effective senior manager with a generic social work background in a number of social services departments. Her most recent employment was in SSI, both as an inspector and policy link between North West Social Services Departments and the Department of Health. In SSI she contributed to current Government policy on Mental Health, Learning Disability and Leaving Care Services.

Hester became a consultant in social and health care in 2000, and has completed a number of Joint Reviews and a range of work reviewing and developing services for local authorities and health agencies. Within Wales she has contributed to the audit on preparation for the Leaving Care Act, reporting on Children's Plans and the fieldwork for four Climbíe audits in spring 2004.

Sue Roberts - Reviewer
Sue Roberts began her social work career in Nottingham Social Services in 1978 and has worked since then in a variety of settings within the statutory and voluntary sector in England and Wales. She joined Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council in 1996 and was an operational manger for care management teams for older and disabled people and then a strategic manager in a joint social services and Local health Board post.

She is a registered social worker, has a degree in Social Science, a masters degree in Social Studies and is a qualified PRINCE project manager.

Prior to the creation of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales in April 2007, Sue joined SSIW in January 2005 as an adult service inspector and has participated in adult service reviews, has responsibility for the annual performance evaluation of Local Authority services in Ceredigion and Powys and has undertaken an evaluation of adult protection procedures in Wales.

Shirley Williams - Reviewer
Shirley became an independent consultant after leaving her assistant director (adults) post in Stockport Social Services. Shirley has done a number of Joint Reviews, worked on a CPA team, completed a variety of improvement projects in both children and adults services in England and Wales and undertaken a range of complaint investigations/panel work.

Her career has involved management of children's services, lecturing, and working as a probation officer. She has long-standing experience working as a volunteer at both service and management committee level. A registered social worker, Shirley has a first degree in Social Theory and Administration and a master's degree in Social Policy and Research Method.

Adrienne Woolfe - Reviewer
Adrienne qualified as a social worker after studying at Swansea and Manchester Universities. After community development work in Manchester and a post in a Cambridge psychiatric hospital she then worked as a local authority practitioner in South Glamorgan and later in Manchester social services for several years.

For a number of years she also undertook part time research, teaching, training and development activities in the further education, voluntary and health service sectors and eventually moved fulltime into training and development with Barnardos in North West England.

Adrienne returned to live in Cardiff in the early 90’s and worked as a social work manager for a Barnardos learning disability project in Merthyr Tydfil for three years. During this time she gained a Masters Degree in Social Policy from Bristol University. She later moved on to become Assistant Director in Barnardos, based in Cardiff, with responsibility for managing a range of child care projects across the whole of South Wales.

Adrienne was seconded from this position to SSIW and for a period of three years during which she contributed to the development of local authority child care services across Wales.

Prior to the creation of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales in April 2007, and since mid 2004 she has been a Fee Paid Inspector for SSIW and has contributed to a number of inspections, reviews, audits and policy development activities in Wales. She also works as an independent child care consultant.

Helen Keatley - Reviewer
Helen joined the Wales Audit Commission in 2004 as a Performance Specialist and her work has mainly focused on service improvement within local government, health and the police. In all, she has over 15 years experience in the public sector and has specialised in communications and customer care; performance and risk management; and human resources and training.

Helen has also worked in the private sector, with the National Trust and with the BBC.

Graduating with a BA (Honours) in Applied Social Sciences, Helen’s main study focus was Social Policy and Administration, and is following up her research into public sector policy development by pursuing a Masters Degree in Public Policy.

John Llewellyn Thomas - Reviewer
Following qualification at Swansea University John started his career with the Probation Service in 1969, leaving to work for the Children's Regional Planning Committee for Wales in 1975. He left there in 1984, to take up a senior management children services post in Clwyd. This was followed by a promotion to Mid Glamorgan County Council where he was the Assistant Director (Children and Family Services) from 1991 to 1995. In 1995 he became the Director of Social Services for the newly formed Unitary Authority of Torfaen. Since leaving Torfaen in 1999 he has worked as a social services consultant.

John has extensive experience of working with local authorities, the voluntary sector and inspection work for SSIW, CSIW, Home Office (Youth Offending) and CAFCAS. He successfully completed the Local Government Top Managers Programme in 1999.

Julia Phillipson - Reviewer
Julia Phillipson is a qualified social worker, registered with the Care Council. She trained initially as a psychiatric social worker and has worked in a range of settings for adults and older people, including in hospitals, the community and with people who abuse drugs. She was a consultant and leader of the social work education programme at the National Institute for Social Work in London from 1985-89. Since moving to Wales in 1990 she has worked independently and has been involved in workforce and quality developments with a range of local authorities. She has also developed and written guidance documents for both the SSIW and the Care Council for Wales.

Prior to the creation of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales in April 2007, Julia has been involved as a fee paid inspector with SSIW for the past 8 years and has contributed to many inspections and reviews. 

Review Support and Information Team

Barbara Atton - Information Analyst
Barbara joined SSIW in June 2006.  She is a Humanities graduate who also has a Masters in Public Policy and Evaluation.  Prior to joining SSIW, Barbara joined the Assembly in 2002 as a researcher in the Evaluation Unit (now the Office of the Chief Social Research Officer). Barbara has a background in policy and VFM/audit work having previously worked in the Welsh Office, Audit Commission and a local authority.

Ralph Larner - Information Analyst
Ralph joined the SSIW Information Analysis Unit in March 2004 after completing the Royal Statistical Society Certificate of Statistics. Previously Ralph worked in the National Assembly Statistical Department for 2 years in Statistical IT Support.

Vince Gough - Review Support Co-ordinator
Vince joined SSIW in September 2004 to support and co-ordinate the review process and specifically project manage the second round of Joint Reviews in Wales .

Within the Welsh Assembly his background includes event management in WalesTrade International and emergency planning work in Human Resources (Emergencies). He has also worked on the inspection support side in Estyn.

Jo Olsen - Review Support Co-ordinator
Jo joined SSIW in May 2001 and worked in both the SSIW Development Unit and the SSIW Performance Management Team before joining the Review Support & Information Team in September 2004. Previously Jo worked in the National Assembly's Health Department for ten years.